In a long muted brown maxi skirt and crimped hair, Blake Lively was worlds away from her usual glam self on the set of It Ends With Us on Friday January 12. The actress stars as Lily in the adaptation of the popular Colleen Hoover novel, and she paired the skirt with a matching tank top and a buttercup yellow shirt over the top that was unbuttoned and tied into a knot at the waist. She accessorized with large hoop earrings and a smattering of beaded bracelets.
In the pictures, Justin Baldoni, the director of the film who also stars as the main male character, and Blake were seen arguing and kissing, as they shot scenes for the film which is expected to hit theaters in summer 2024.
© Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin
© Jose Perez/Bauer-GriffinFilming recently resumed for the production, after it was halted due to the WGA and later SAG strikes, but prior to that Blake was often pictured in character rocking looks for the maximalists to swoon over.
In one scene she was snapped in a pair of oversized, vintage-patterned mustard trousers with a blue quilted trouser layer peeking out from above her waistband, paired with a navy crop top and layered with a buttoned down yellow striped shirt and a mustard yellow blazer.
© Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin
© Jose Perez/Bauer-GriffinIt Ends With Us is an adaptation of Colleen's controversial novel which took social media by storm in 2022. The book – which has around three billion views on TikTok, is a #1 Sunday Times bestseller and stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for over 90 weeks – is loosely based on Hoover's mother’s own journey when Colleen was a child.
The female protagonist, Lily (played by Blake) grew up in a toxic household, but after working hard through school she moves to Boston after graduating college where she meets a new romantic partner in Ryle Kincaid (played by Justin), an older neurosurgeon who has a "no dating rule" and a questionable attitude towards relationships. But their romance begins to mimic those Lily had seen growing up, with devastating consequences, and as the new relationship overwhelms Lily, her thoughts turn to her first love, Atlas Corrigan (played by Brandon Sklenar) and a link to the past she left behind.
© Peter Cruz / SplashNews.comHowever the book has been criticized for romanticizing domestic abuse, especially as the promotion of the novel by the publishers has focused on the spicier elements of the text.
Fans were also upset at the casting choices due to the discrepancy between Blake and Justin's real-life ages and those of the characters they portray; Blake, 35, is playing 23-year-old Lily, and Justin, 39, will play the 30-year-old neurosurgeon.
But Colleen later defended their casting, revealing that she wanted to age them up due to the nature of the story, and apologized formaking them so young in the first place.
"Back when I wrote It Ends With Us, the new adult [genre] was very popular," she said, adding: "You were writing college-age characters. That's what I was contracted to do. As I started making this movie, I'm like, 'We need to age them out because I messed up,' so that's my fault."
